1998 Personal Accounts

The Darwin Awards salutes the spirit portrayed in the following personal accounts, submitted by loyal (and sometimes deceased) readers.

Bubble Bath?
1998 Personal Account

An alert firefighter relates the following tale:

The call came in at 2PM. A structure fire in Palmer MA. As we approached
the scene, our dispatcher notified us that the house trailer was fully
involved. At the scene, we found smoke and flames coming out of the windows
and doors. The fire was extinguished in an hour and an investigation begun.

It didn't take long to complete, since the owner already knew the cause of
the blaze. He said the gunpowder he lit in the bathtub ignited some nearby
clothes. We asked him why in the world he would ignite gun powder in the
bathtub. He explained that he was simply trying to smoke out a family of
skunks that took residence under his house trailer.